Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government's top infectious disease expert and a leader in the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, during an appearance on BBC's America podcast blasted "low-life trolls" who have harassed his wife and children.
"These people who troll about, they harass my wife and my children because they can figure out where they live and what their phone number is," Fauci said. "I have good security protection, but I really think it's so cowardly to harass people who are completely uninvolved, including my children."
Fauci, 81, has been a target for criticism for much of the pandemic in mostly Republican circles, including by former President Donald Trump, who said he would have fired Fauci if he won reelection.
Fauci said it wasn't easy to publicly disagree with Trump and that it "generated an extraordinary amount of hostility" from "far-right" activists in the U.S.
Two people have been arrested for what Fauci described as "credible attempts on his life."
Fauci during the interview also warned about a "tsunami of misinformation and disinformation" in America, including on social media, but he wouldn't comment on Twitter's recent decision to stop labeling and removing COVID-19 misinformation, because he feared being accused of "trying to suppress people's freedom of speech."
Fauci in August announced he will leave government service in December to "pursue the next chapter" of his career.
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